Julbord at ASI

The American Swedish Institute is hosting three Julbords — Swedish for "Christmas table" — this holiday season, offering a smörgåsbord of Christmas ham, Jansson's Temptation, Swedish meatballs, Swedish potato sausages, herring, dill Havarti, Jarlsberg and baked Brie cheeses, a lox salmon platter, cucumber dill salad, Scandinavian pea salad and a dessert table including rice pudding and more. Enjoy a glass of glögg (Swedish mulled wine) or strong coffee. Meals are at 3 p.m. Dec. 13; 6:30 p.m. Dec. 20 (includes live music by the Jaztronauts) and 1 p.m. Dec. 21. Reservations must be made at least one week in advance. Visit ASImn.org for more details.

A honey of a bake sale

St. Paul's beautiful Union Depot will host top Twin Cities bakeries from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6 for its holiday bake sale. Visitors can watch cooking demonstrations and musical performances and win giveaways, all amid modern and historic holiday decor. New this year will be cookies for the bake sale made with Bee Line Honey, from five rooftop hives atop the depot. Bee Line Honey also will be available for sale. Admission is $5 for adults; under age 12 admitted free. Commemorative holiday tins will be sold for $10 and include one general admission, recipe cards from participating bakeries, a Union Depot specialty cookie and a drawing form to enter to win prizes. Part of the proceeds will benefit Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign. Get tickets at uniondepot.org/bakesale.

More homegrown recipes

Voyageur Press has revised and updated its "The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook: Local Foods, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes," with more recipes from more Minnesota restaurants including Corner Table, Waves of Superior Cafe, DreamAcres Farm and Alexis Bailly Vineyards (find recipe on pageT6). Local recipes range from a barbecue bacon elk burger to Norwegian rømmegrøt cream pudding. The 160-page book features 200 color photos. Cost is $29.99.

Co-op gives to community groups

Props to Mississippi Market Natural Foods Co-op, which donated more than $30,000 to three community organizations this month. The co-op's membership voted to split the amount between Frogtown Farm ($12,546), Hmong American Farmers Association ($7,732) and Midwest Food Connection ($9,808).

Mill City Winter Market Saturday

Mill City Farmers Market is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday inside the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis. More than 40 vendors will sell an array of fresh produce, locally milled grains and flours, preserves, artisan cheeses, pastured meats and more, all with an eye toward making a Thanksgiving meal.

STAFF REPORTS